Trunked communication systems are known to comprise a plurality of communication units, a limited number of communication resources that are transceived via a predetermined number of repeaters, or base stations, and a communication resource allocator that allocates the limited number of communication resources among the plurality of communication units. The communication resources may comprise a TDM bus, a carrier frequency, a pair of carrier frequencies, or any RF transmission means. Of the communication resources, one is selected as the control channel which transceives operational data between the communication resource allocator and the communication units. The communication units, which may be portable radios and/or mobile radios, are arranged into talkgroups, also called user groups, by commonality of use. For example, a user group may comprise communication units that are operated by a police department while another user group comprises communication units operated by a fire department.
In a multi-site trunked communication system, the sites included in a call are predetermined based on the classification of the user group or individual. If the call is classified as a wide-area call, a channel is assigned at multiple sites. If the call is classified as a site or local call, only one site assigns a channel. The radio user has no control over the call sites once the classifications are set up.
Sometimes a radio user knows that the parties to be reached are at his own site or adjacent sites. Nevertheless, if the call is classified as a wide-area call, the user is assigned channels at the site of origin and all other wide-area sites that the user group utilizes. This wastes channels at other sites and can delay the call while waiting for channels to become free at all wide-area sites. It would be quicker and more channel efficient if only one channel was assigned at the site of origin and/or at adjacent sites where the users are located. This would be especially useful, for example, for a utility company that is trying to fix a local problem when the users only need to talk to local user group members. Therefore, a method of resource allocation based on user information is desired.